


I. Seaside

by notablyindigo



Series: The Better Half [1]
Category: Elementary (TV)
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-26
Updated: 2014-02-26
Packaged: 2018-01-13 21:17:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 455
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1241068
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/notablyindigo/pseuds/notablyindigo





	I. Seaside

They’d decided a month previously to take a holiday to The Hamptons, had booked a cottage on the beach and everything, and so despite the gray weather and the tension that’s bloomed up between them, they put their weekend bags in Joan’s car and go. She almost canned the whole thing, feeing far from celebratory, but Ty already committed to taking days off of work. And she certainly had nowhere to be, after all.

The town is rustic, the cottage is charming, and by the time they arrive, the sky is threatening rain. They unpack slowly, tucking their clothes into dresser drawers with deliberate, over-careful neatness (everything, everything has to be over-careful now, no more room for mistakes). Ty makes bland, insipid comments, and she gives bland, insipid responses. They have mediocre, uninspired sex, and then retreat to opposite sides of the bed until it’s time to wash up for dinner. Joan holds her book in front of her face and doesn’t read it. 

He’s trying to be cautious with her, no alarms and no surprises, and she tries to appreciate the gesture even though the whole thing makes her want to throw crockery against the wall just to watch it break. On the phone, her mother and Oren speak to her in soft, low voices. On her most recent visit Carrie murmured the same platitudes as last time: it’s not your fault, Joanie. You couldn’t have known. (Even the review board had used gentle language last month in its letter notifying her of her license suspension.)

What she did was an act of violence (he bled out in seconds, so much blood at once not enough time to stop it not enough time), and so it only stood to reason that her punishment was for her to be soothed into catatonia. Brain death through the loving support of friends and family she didn’t deserve.

Dinner, at least, is delicious—chicken mole and fish tacos that set her mouth on fire and leave her fingers sticky with lime juice. She returns from washing her hands to find Ty chatting with the waiter as he hands over the bill.

“…and I do corporate law,” she hears Ty saying as she approaches the table, already dreading what’s coming next. The waiter turns to look at Joan as she takes her seat.

“So you’re a surgeon, huh?”

“I was,” Joan says, and reaches for her wallet.

——-

They go home two days early. She packs her things and moves out of Ty’s place. She officially tenders her resignation at the hospital. 

“Why?” her mother asks over the phone, each time progressively more dismayed. The questions, Joan finds, all have the same answer. 

“My heart just wasn’t in it anymore.”


End file.
